New American Standard Bible 2020

Ecclesiastes 7:16-25

16Do not be excessively 1righteous, and do not 2be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? 17Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you 3die 4before your time? 18It is good that you grasp one thing while not 5letting go of the other; for one who 6fears God comes out with 7both of them.

19 8Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20Indeed, 9there is not a righteous person on earth who always does good and does not ever sin. 21Also, do not 10take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant 11cursing you, 22for 12you know that even you have cursed others many times as well.

23I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” 13but wisdom was far from me. 24What has been is remote and 14very 15mysterious. 16Who can discover it? 25I 17 18directed my 19mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 7

Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 7:16 Prov 25:16; Phil 3:6 ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 7:16 Rom 12:3 ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 7:17 Job 22:16; Ps 55:23; Prov 10:27 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 7:17 Lit when not your time ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 7:18 Lit resting your hand ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 7:18 Eccl 3:14; 5:7; 8:12, 13; 12:13 ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 7:18 Lit all of them ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 7:19 Eccl 7:12; 9:13-18 ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 7:20 1 Kin 8:46; 2 Chr 6:36; Ps 143:2; Prov 20:9; Rom 3:23 ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 7:21 Lit give your heart to ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 7:21 Prov 30:10 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 7:22 Lit your heart knows ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 7:23 Eccl 3:11; 8:17 ↩
14. Ecclesiastes 7:24 Rom 11:33 ↩
15. Ecclesiastes 7:24 Lit deep ↩
16. Ecclesiastes 7:24 Job 11:7; 37:23; Eccl 8:17 ↩
17. Ecclesiastes 7:25 Lit turned about ↩
18. Ecclesiastes 7:25 Eccl 1:15, 17; 10:13 ↩
19. Ecclesiastes 7:25 Lit heart ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7